For NFL players, being named the cover athlete 
for EA’s Madden franchise beats the pants off getting their face plastered on a Wheaties box.
Historically, the company has decided who gets the honor, but this year, it’s letting fans make the decision.
There are still a lot of looming questions about 
the 2011-2012 NFL season – most notably, will there be one? Now that uncertainty is starting to seep into the video game world.
Electronic Arts has already made it very clear: No matter what happens between the players and owners, there will be a new Madden game in stores this August. But if the season is substantially shortened or cancelled altogether, it could have a devastating impact on the game’s success.
NBA JAM by EA Sports is, quite simply, a heck of a lot of fun to 
play. Easy to pick up and anything but complicated in its rules, the game focuses solely on the most outlandish parts of the sport — monster slam dunks and huge blocks of opponents’ shots. It’s a bit more aggressive than other basketball games, but the violence is arcade-like and not too concerning. The game further offers impressive visuals and keeps the adrenaline pumping with announcer Tim Kitzrow’s “boomshakalaka”-infused running commentary. The biggest disappointment is the lack of any multiplayer mode, as this is one of those titles that’s more fun with friends.
EA’s Frank Gibeau talks to Gamasutra about the 
company’s position in the casual Facebook gaming market, the renewed focus on PC releases and the increasing dabblings in the freemium business model.
Some publishers are focusing primarily on the online market these days. Others see mobile as the wave of the future. Plenty are chasing the social network audience. And some are sticking doggedly with the traditional game space.
At Electronic Arts, they’re covering their bets.
Electronic Arts hasn’t exactly been a 
darling of Wall Street in recent years.
Battered by a string of earnings disappointments and underperfoming titles, the video game publisher has seen its archrival Activision-Blizzard take away king-of-the hill status among industry peers, and watched its stock price fall. But Frank Gibeau, the president of the EA Games label, says the company has made the necessary changes to get back on top.
If you’re a fan of NBA games looking for a precise 
simulation of the sport, NBA Elite 11 by EA SPORTS isn’t it. It is, however, a fine game for fans who simply want to have a fun experience that’s a step beyond an arcade-like basketball game. With easy-to-grasp controls and a smooth flowing animation system, it gets a lot right — even down to the television-like presentation. It’s a fun single-player game, but it’s a title that cries out for a multiplayer mode, something that NBA Elite 11 by EA SPORTS lacks. Of course, seeing that EA cancelled all other platform versions of this game, the fact that it’s available at all is a notable achievement.
The Wall Street rumor mill has been 
alive with chatter for the past couple of weeks about whether video game king of the hill Activision-Blizzard should buy Take-Two Interactive Software.
It’s a merger that makes sense on some levels—but is absolutely baffling on others.
While the year’s barely underway, Dead Space 2 
is already standing out as one of the must-have titles for 2011. But some players, like Gareth Garratt, have found themselves left out of the action.
Garratt, who has cerebral palsy, tried the game on his PC but was unable to customize the controls enough to play. The frustration led him to post about his experience on a U.K. gaming board.
[Gamasutra editor-at-large Chris Morris talks to 
analysts at M2 and Wedbush Morgan to examine the possible effects on Electronic Arts — and its signature Madden game franchise — of an American football strike.]
Football stadiums across the country might be silent next September – as the prospect of an NFL lockout grows larger by the day – but on the virtual field, the game will still be played.
Electronic Arts will release its 2012 installment of the Madden franchise this year as it has each year since 1988 – but it might be doing so without the marketing force of the league behind it for the first time in the game’s history.
As the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers 
clean out their lockers and the nation debates which Super Bowl commercial was the best, there’s a big cloud hanging over the 2011-2012 NFL season.
A work stoppage is looking increasingly likely — and the effects of that could reach far beyond the gridiron. One company that’s undoubtedly monitoring the situation closely is Electronic Arts.
Chris Morris: Journalist 